found
by S.Ann Smith
Summary: POST COVENANT therefore holds Covenant spoilers Lex wanders into a bar in Gotham and runs into an old friend... Chlex.. uhh.. very bad language in ch 7... there you go.. u've been warned Finished
1. 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my computer, and possibly my brain... no wait... that was infested with rabbits with machine guns... uh... so yeah.. own nothing.. what you thought i did? Poor child. you need to take a nap. :)   
  
Rating: PG 13 - ?   
  
Genre: Angst/General   
  
Spoilers: COVENANT If u haven't seen it, don't read this!!!  
  
Found   
  
by S. Ann Smith   
  
1. The third glass of scotch  
  
Lex wanted to get drunk, although, given his record, he really should give up his scotch habit. Today he'd make an exception. He was in Gotham City, visiting his old school buddy Bruce, and really really needed to get that artificial courage in his system, he decided as he walked into one of his old haunts. The owner was an old friend of his, and he and Bruce used to get drunk here when they were under age. 'It's amazing what you can buy in a big city.'  
  
It was now September, the autumn leaves had began to turn just yesterday, and his father had died of his condition in prison three weeks ago Lex was told. He was now safe to drink all the scotch he wanted. And oh did he want it.  
  
It was now September. Chloe had been gone, because he didn't want to think of her as - as anything other than gone, for four excruciating months. There was very little hope that she had survived the blast that killed her father, and Lex's most trusted friend, other than Chloe. If she had even thought he considered her a friend. He downed the first glorious taste of scotch as he tried to drown out the thoughts he was having.  
  
"Bartender, can I have another drink please?" he asked the petite brunette behind the counter. Not looking up, she poured him a drink, and continued to serve another customer.  
  
After the third scotch, Lex could have sworn he knew her from somewhere. "Excuse me, bartender?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Luthor?" She asked with a smile That was it. Those three words sent a shiver through his spine. Mr. Luthor. Mr. Luthor. Her enunciation was identical. And those eyes. That 100 watt smile. He knew her.  
  
"Chloe?" He ventured. Her smile faded, and she quickly looked down.  
  
"You must be really drunk Mr. Luthor. My name is Linnea Lennox." She gracefully swept her index finger across her name tag. Looking deeply into his eyes, she said one word. "See." Choked tears hung thickly in her throat, and he could tell.  
  
"Miss Lennox, may I speak with you after your shift?" Lex asked, inwardly smirking at her initials. 'L.L., She's 'raven-haired with the initials L.L.' I thought you covered your tracks better than that Chloe.'  
  
"I'm sorry Mr. Luthor, but I don't go out with drunken bald guys." She looked at him, her hazel eyes were dancing with humour.  
  
Lex smirked. "Fair enough, Miss Lennox. You decide when you would like to talk about your name tag." He said as he handed her a business card, and quickly took himself out of the bar. He couldn't look at her and pretend that she was somebody else. She would always be Chloe. His Chloe. Hair colour and a new identity couldn't change that. 


	2. 2

2. Jane Doe  
  
She didn't expect to see him. It was Gotham City, not Metropolis. She was unsafe in Kansas, so she came here. She was lost, and met Bruce. He had connections. She hoped that he could protect her in the way that Lex couldn't.  
  
It was September. Four months almost to the day of her father's funeral. Three months and a week since her first birthday after her Daddy had passed.  
  
He was her idol when she was growing up. Next to Miss Piggy, April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and of course, the local newscaster. She smiled, softly, fondly remembering the way her dad would laugh when she told him that she wanted to watch the news, no matter how gruesome the story was.  
  
She missed him. More than she'd ever admit, and more than she could ever describe. He had been her life. Once, she would rush home after working long hours at the Torch, to make him supper and tell him that he was overworking himself and that supper was her responsibility. Now, she couldn't bear returning home and not having his smiling tired face looking up at her from his favourite chair. She was not returning to the place she had called home for five years. Not returning to Smallville. It held too many memories for her, seeing their home would make her cry. Seeing the plant would make her cry. There was only one place that she wouldn't be able to cry at: the Torch. Her dad had never been inside it, and therefore it held no memories of him.  
  
She was living her happily oblivious life as Linnea Lennox for a month, she was just out of the hospital in, wherever it was the FBI took her. When they finally let her out, she was Jane Doe. They had no idea what her name was and called her Jane. Chloe was gone, she remembered, taking a deep breath. Lex had made her forget who she was now, and remember who she was then.  
  
Lex. When she had seen him, she tried not to get him to look at her. He looked like shit. He looked like somebody had ran him through the dry cycle of a really big clothes dryer and left him in. His clothes were wrinkled, he had bags under his eyes, and even worse, he was drinking scotch again. His father must have really gotten to him.  
  
She kept newspaper articles in a black binder. Ones of Lex's poisoning, Clark's first Daily Planet article, and obituaries of people she once knew. Chloe and Gabe Sullivan. Whenever she felt like Chloe was coming back, she re--read them, had a cry, and went to bed Linnea Lennox again. She did this every night, and she hated it.  
  
She hated all of it. The brown hair. The new name. Knowing she'd never see her dad again, and looking at the scars from the explosion. They were tattoos, memories of what she didn't want too remember. What had taken her life away from her.  
  
The explosion. The thought hung in the air like a thick fog. It whispered into her ears when she was trying to sleep. The sounds and smells will haunt her to her death. The sound of a scream choked in her throat. The smell of burning flesh.  
  
The bright white lights of the emergency room, the smell of bleach following her down the hallway. They now follow her everywhere. It follows her down the isle of the grocery store when she buys her coffee. Extra dark roast. She could really use some of that coffee right about now.  
  
She lay down on her hardwood floor. All the apartments in the building had oak floors, but nobody seemed to notice. She curled up into a little ball and thought about the life she used to have. The life she now wished was still in tact. She would wake up and it would all be back to normal. She was going to find a new meteor freak to investigate, everything would be back to normal.  
  
No. She was Linnea Lennox now. Not Jane Doe, and definitely not Chloe Sullivan. She wished that she was Jane Doe again. Everything is so much simpler when you're on Morphine and Demerol. 


	3. 3

3. It's all your fault  
  
She toyed with the business card in her left hand.  
  
'Why am I even here?' She wondered. But she knew. She wanted to be in a place where Chloe could come back even for a minute. Then she would be happy.  
  
Happy. She smirked. Now it was very rare for her to think of herself as happy. She secretly hoped that Lex could change that, without drugging her up.  
  
She found herself standing outside his office. Not the one she was used to. it was the LuthorCorp rep office in Gotham, and in comparison, it was small. Very small, and therefore very unLuthor-like.  
  
She gave the secretary a name, any name. She wasn't even sure who she was anymore, that was part of the reason that she was here. To set Lex, and even herself straight, who she was and who she is are different, she repeated to herself.  
  
A little voice piped up in her head. "They're only as different as you want them to be" Then she recognized it. It was her father's voice.  
  
"Miss, Mr. Luthor will see you now."  
  
"Thank you." She said numbly, and walked into the office.  
  
"Welcome in Miss... Lennox." He said her name as if it was a foreign word from another planet.  
  
"Hello Mr. Luthor." She said softly. She tried to keep her voice from shaking, her hands were doing all of that on their own. She tried to look calm, cool and collected because she wasn't feeling that way on the inside.  
  
Lex studied the girl in front of him. The head that once held itself high, showing the world it's beauty, now hung itself low hiding very small and hardly there scars. They were all internal. Lex knew. He felt that way a lot. When ever he was brought back to realization that Chloe was gone - but she was here. She was just changed. He missed the old Chloe.  
  
"Chloe," he said softly. after closing the door behind them. The walls were sound proofed. All the walls he installed in his rep office in Gotham were. He didn't want Bruce knowing what he did. Having what he had. Lex never did.  
  
"I told you, I'm not her anymore." She said softly.  
  
"It's alright, nobody can hear you in here." He said moving toward her again. She jumped back. "Chloe, please. I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
"But he - Lionel - he can." She said tears coming to her eyes.  
  
"He's dead Chloe." Lex said softly. He watched tears spring up into her eyes.  
  
"How can you be sure?" She glared at him. What had happened to the once trusting blonde teenager, who had ambitions? Hopes. Then Lex remembered. She blew up in an explosion. All that was left was a broken girl, with brown hair, and a new identity. She had lost her ambition when she lost her father, she had just given up.  
  
"I seen him Chloe. It's over. It's alright now." Lex watched her collapse in exhaustion on the floor.  
  
"It's never going to be over." She said softly. "He haunts me Lex. Follows me everywhere. I want to believe what you say is true, but I can't. He is everywhere." Tears were held in her throat. The tears broke through the invisible barrier that held them back for so long. She was losing it. It was bad.  
  
Everything was messed up. It was all Lex's fault. No. It was all Lionel's fault. He just wasn't here to be blamed. 


	4. 4

4. Sleeping Dogs Lie  
  
Lex was holding her in his arms. He had dreamed about this. Well. not like this. Although Chloe was alright, she wasn't okay. She was emotionally scarred, and was frightened for her safety.  
  
She was alive, and that is what mattered right? Now all Lex had to do was keep her safe. Safe. She hadn't been safe for a long time, and he knew that. He wanted to keep her safe from all her evils, both real and imaginary.  
  
Chloe just had to let him in, and that would take some work.  
  
"Do you want something? Is there anything at all I can get for you?" Lex asked softy.  
  
"Peace." She said looking up at him with her jaded hazel eyes. "And a glass of water."  
  
Lex smiled softly, and gave her forehead a soft kiss before heading towards the water cooler. He left her on the floor. 'Broken. She was broken.' he thought as he rinsed out his coffee mug, and handed it to her once it was filled with cool water, A beautiful untouched surface of glass marked only by a couple of perfect circles of ice from his mini ice maker.  
  
A sad smile traced it's way onto Chloe's face when she read the mug. "'Coffee drinkers make the best lovers'? Hey, this is my mug!"  
  
"Yeah. Clark gave it to me when he was packing up your stuff." Lex wasn't telling her the whole truth. He hadn't asked Clark for it. Clark wasn't going to give it to him. Lex had taken it when Clark wasn't looking. As some way of remembering Chloe. Now that he knew she wasn't dead, he could give her mug back to her. Hopefully she would bring back Chloe, and leave Linnea behind. Lex just wished that he wasn't hoping for too much.  
  
"Lex, you and Clark aren't friends." She said softly.  
  
"What ever gave you that idea?" Lex asked softy. The last thing Chloe needed was to hear about the problems between Lex and Clark. That would only add to her escalating depression.  
  
"I remember the way he glared at you in the courtroom." She said taking a sip of the water. Her eyes never left his. "What happened between you two? You were so close." She said after swallowing her sip of cold water. She studied his face with a patience that amazed Lex. Here she was, in the middle of what he had thought was a breakdown, and she was concerned about his former friendship with Clark.  
  
"Clark grew up," Lex said looking at her seriously. "He grew up and realized that he needs to act, not ask somebody else when to act. Therefore I became obsolete." Lex smirked. Lex wasn't going to tell her the whole story until she opened up and told him what she had been doing since the explosion. He had to get her to open up somehow. He just hoped that she would open up soon.  
  
She sensed that he wasn't telling her the whole truth about his relationship with Clark, but she didn't want to push it. If Lex was feeling the way she was about everything, it wouldn't be safe to push him about things that he was sensitive. If only Lex would follow the same courteously with her.  
  
She studied his face carefully, but decided that she should leave sleeping dogs lie instead of waking them up to fight. Those proverbial dogs could very well ruin what she did have here in Gotham City if they were awoken. Chloe didn't want that. She decided to walk softly around these dogs.  
  
"How have you been Lex? I mean since she's been - since I've been gone?" There she asked it. She wasn't trying to pry into his life like that, but she wanted to know. She wanted to know everything that he had been through since they last time they had spoken. It was too long of a wait to see him again.  
  
She was beginning to think that he had given her up for dead. But then again she only thought this because that was what she had done. Given Chloe Sullivan up for dead. 'Chloe Sullivan is dead. Chloe Sullivan is dead.' She repeated the silent mantra in her head while she waited for an answer from Lex.  
  
"Waiting for my father to die." He replied finally. "Looking for any hope that you were alive." He said softly, almost too softly. He didn't want to wake the sleeping dogs either. He must know that all would be lost once the dogs were awake.  
  
"She's not, you know." She said softly. She looked up at him with her lost eyes. They were all that were left now. Her and him. That was what she had to let him realize before it was too late. It was almost too late for him. She had to protect him better than he had protect her. Better than she knew Bruce could ever try to protect her.  
  
Bruce and Clark were sleeping dogs. The sooner they awoke and realized that she was at one point in her life, Chloe Sullivan, the sooner the world around her would crumble. She hoped that the sleeping dogs would lay, and peacefully in their sleep, die. Because the alternative was far more dangerous. If they were to wake...  
  
She only hoped they would die.  
  
Then they couldn't lie to her again. 


	5. 5

5. A lot of work to be done  
  
"She's not, you know." Chloe's words hung in the air. Lex didn't want to believe her. She was alive. Chloe Sullivan was sitting right in front of him telling him that she was dead. But this 'new Chloe' was not improved, just a cheap imitation of who she was.  
  
"Then who is standing in front of me?"  
  
"I don't know." She said vacantly. Lex was afraid of this. She was hardly a shell of herself, she had become somebody other than the Chloe he had known. He had hoped to find her still intact, with a few scrapes and bruises. But that was the optimistic thought.  
  
He hadn't thought of all the ways that things could get worse. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome aside, there was a lot of work ahead of him to do. It was a good thing that Luthors enjoy challenges. And a challenge she was going to be.  
  
There were scars on her hands. As much as she tried to hide them from him. As much as she tried to conceal them, they would always be there. They told the untold story of what had happened in the explosion. They told why Chloe's face held hardly any scars. Lex walked softly around her, studying her body carefully.  
  
"What happened to you Chloe?" He asked softly, as his eyes traced the scars on her back. They were shaped like broken glass. They were from the impact of her back on the door, Lex decided. His hand reached out to touch them. A knock on the door stopped him.  
  
"Miss Lennox's ride is here, Mr. Luthor." The secretary said softly. She was afraid that he was going to yell at her again. 'Fear is the minds self- defence, Lex. Avoid fear, and you avoid break-down.' His father's voice rang clearly through his head. It was one of his father's lessons, God, he hated those lessons.  
  
Chloe grabbed her purse quickly. "It's been a nice chat, Mr. Luthor, but I'm not going to screw you." She said heading towards the door.  
  
Lex grabbed her arm. She winced in pain, and turned to look at him. "You haven't answered my question Miss Lennox." He said, spitting out her new name like dirt.  
  
"She blew up." She said simply as she pried herself out of his grasp. "Don't call me, Mr. Luthor. I'll call you."  
  
Lex sat down quickly in his plush leather chair. He missed the old Chloe.  
  
Bruce was waiting for her in his limo at the curb. She got in swiftly. Soundlessly. If only everything else could be that easy.  
  
"How is the old bugger these days?" Bruce asked.  
  
"Same old Lex." She said looking out the window. She didn't want to look at Bruce. She really did miss Lex, but Bruce was her life now. She had to face it. She didn't want to face it.  
  
Lionel Luthor watched a petite brunette leave the LuthorCorp building and enter a sleek black limousine.  
  
Sitting back into his chair casually he let the darkness envelope him.  
  
"Now this is interesting." He said smirking to himself. 


	6. 6

6. Absently  
  
Lex paced around his small Gotham office. He was used to a lot more pacing room, but if he left Gotham City, he would be leaving Chloe. What good would that do her? What good would that do to his floor in Metropolis? Lex sighed as he absently ran his hand over his bare scalp, and down his neck.  
  
What was making him so nervous? He wondered as he did another lap around the small coffee table. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and -  
  
"Ahhhhhh! I can't take this! Somethings up, and suddenly I'm Clark Kent, and his alter-ego, Captain Brainless!" He threw his hands into the air, and headed out of his office.  
  
"Hold my calls..." He couldn't remember her name. Not that it really mattered to the blonde behind the desk. She was highly preoccupied with her nails and nail file.  
  
"Yes Mr. Luthor." She said, not looking up from her dangerously red nail polish. 'I thought I was more intimidating than that, and there's something about that colour that screams 'Ten-Cent Hooker.'' Lex thought as he walked out the door.  
  
Lionel watched his son leave the LuthorCorp building with a growing suspicion.  
  
"I thought that you were over the Sullivan girl, Lex. She'll only make you weak." He said quietly to himself. He had been observing his son for the past two weeks. It had taken one week for him to leave the state. He had come to Gotham because it was dark, and he could live anonymously.  
  
Not too many Gotham-ers, he wasn't sure as to what he should call them, knew who Lionel Luthor was. It wasn't his home roost of Metropolis, where even small children recognized him on the street. Mind you, they probably had nightmares about him. That was what made his job fun. The torch had been passed to Lex through his 'succumbing to his illness in prison', but Lionel had not expected for Lex to follow his buddy Bruce back to Gotham after his 'funeral'.  
  
That was where Lex changed. Although, he had to admit, being to three funerals in three months must have been hard on his son, he had expected Lex to be more predictable than this. Was this the reckless Lex who had spat in his face when he was sixteen by having his face plastered on every newspaper - with a good reputation or not - in Kansas? Lionel silently prayed that his hard earned empire would not fall because of one girl.  
  
One girl he thought he was rid of for good. He had rigged the explosion to kill everyone involved. He didn't expect for there to be any survivors. There wasn't supposed to be any survivors. Clark Kent was no where near where they had taken the Sullivans at the time of the explosion, so how could this small girl escape with her life? It was the one thing that haunted Lionel Luthor. He hated it. Something had to be done.  
  
She was pacing around her apartment. She hated pacing, and couldn't quite figure out exactly what had started making her pace. It was a funny feeling that she had. When she got funny feelings they were usually dead on. Or at least they were when she was in Smallville. She had lost her sixth sense for things after the explosion, or at least she began to ignore them.  
  
There was no point of investigating things without her father there telling her to be careful. It would be too dangerous for her if nobody said be careful. Not that life wasn't dangerous for her anyway.  
  
She pushed back the long sleeve of her blouse, revealing scars and scabs. The scars she was getting used to. But they reminded her of her dad, and the explosion, all things that she didn't want to be reminded of. The scabs were new. She had done that. She thought in disbelief as she absently ran her finger across the line. It ran parallel to her vein and was initially deep enough to kill her. But it hadn't.  
  
She didn't know why the cuts didn't kill her at the time, but now she was starting to see. She had to help Lex. He was drowning in his own sorrows. He was looking better than he did the first night she seen him in Gotham, but he was still troubled. She had to help him now. That was the deal the fates had set up for her. That was the deal she had bargained for when she had first joined forces with him in Smallville. Her work was not done yet. When it was...  
  
She didn't want to think about that now.  
  
Lex had unknowingly given her a second chance at life. For that she knew she would be grateful. But for now, she would only have to figure out how to help him. 


	7. 7

A/N: Ok, this is where the POV changes get a bit crazy, so I added ellipses(....) where the POV changes, because with the 'Chloe/Linnea' part ppl might get confused. BUT IT IS ONLY IN THIS CHAPTER.. so far... enjoy... 7. Cutting the Crap  
  
Bruce Wayne was sitting in his Library when she came in. He looked up at the sound of small, dainty footsteps and caught the dark hazel eyes of Linnea Lennox.  
  
"Miss Lennox what a surprise," He said gesturing for her to close the door. "What brings you here so early in the morning?" It wasn't early for him, he'd been up all night. He hardly ever sleeps. Its in his nature.  
  
"Cut the crap Bruce." She said stepping closer to him. "You know why I'm here." She was standing dangerously close to him.  
  
Bruce could smell Lex all over her. She reeked of him, she always did, but now it was stronger. That wasn't the reason she was here though. It was always the reason she was here.  
  
Her hands were on him in an instant, and, Bruce inwardly smiled, she wanted him. She wanted something, not him, but that would be discussed later. After. That was the way it had always been between them.  
  
Now he could indulge in the passion that he craved from her. He knew that she wouldn't give him what he wanted, but she gave him the next best thing: her body.  
  
....  
  
She felt like a whore. She only fucked Bruce to get something from him. She usually used Bruce like this. He liked it. He would never turn her away, or at least he hadn't yet. She felt dirty, wrong and she didn't like it. The sex was great with Bruce, but that was all he was to her. Sex.  
  
"He wants a relationship." She spat the last word out like a disease she didn't want to catch. It was a horrible disease she hoped she would never catch. Somewhere deep inside she knew she would eventually catch it again.  
  
"What does he expect from me?" She asked herself aloud. She was in the comfort of her apartment now. All alone. Like she always was. No matter how many people she surrounded herself with she was always alone now.  
  
"I know what I expected from you Miss Sullivan." A deep voice said behind her. She swung around, ready to tell who ever it was that they had the wrong apartment, but her voice flew away when she saw who was standing in her doorway.  
  
....  
  
There was a black Mercedes Benz parked outside her apartment, and this worried Lex. It wasn't Bruce's, and Lex couldn't quite put his finger on who's it could be. There was not many socialites in Gotham City, although, more than Metropolis. Lex reasoned. He only knew that it was a socialite because there was a driver sitting in the front seat.  
  
The driver. Lex looked at him carefully. His keen Chloe-senses kicking in. He recognized the driver, but that could only mean one thing....  
  
....  
  
"What are you doing here?" She asked the figure in front of her.  
  
"What, surprised to see me, Miss Sullivan? I thought a good investigative reporter explored all options." He smirked.  
  
"I'm sorry sir, you must have me confused with somebody else. I'm a bartender, not a reporter."  
  
"Cut the crap Sullivan. I know that its you. Why else would a bartender," he spat, "be spending so much time at the LuthorCorp office here in town?"  
  
"You have me confused with somebody else, sir." She repeated again, daring to look into the eyes of evil. Those eyes, sent shivers down her spine. 'It's not him, it's not him. It's not him. It's not him.' She repeated in her head. If it is, then Lex had lied to her, unless he hadn't known. She hoped that he hadn't known.  
  
....  
  
Lex was almost on Chloe's floor. He was lucky that somebody else had let him in on their way out or he would have never made it up the fire escape in time.  
  
He barged into her apartment just in time. He knew that it was her apartment. He knew a lot more about her than she thought he did, but that was beyond the point at this time.  
  
Then he saw him.  
  
The Magnificent Bastard in all his glory.  
  
"Dad." 


	8. 8

8. Battle of the Titans  
  
"Dad." One word. The one word that could stir sorrow into her hardened heart. The one word she would never be able to say to somebody again. It was the one word she never wanted to hear aloud again. But she put on a brave face, so that Lionel Luthor would not see it as a weakness. It was her only weakness. Other than the one person who had just come to her rescue.  
  
"Son." Came his response. It was always the same, between the two Luthors, she knew that now. "And I half expected it to be Superman to come to Miss Sullivan's rescue." He said the name of Lex's arch enemy easily.  
  
Sure, she had kept up to date on all of things pertaining to her friends, and their enemies. She then had done some research on Metropolis' caped- crusader, and had found nothing. Then she set her sights on Gotham's own caped-crusader: Batman. Her research on him, brought her to Bruce, and Bruce had inadvertently brought her to Lex. Lex had brought her to Chloe purposefully, and Chloe had brought her to Lionel. She was like a child's toy being passed from one child to another.  
  
"Chloe's dead father, or did you forget?" Lex said, his voice surprisingly even. She really needed to learn how to do that.  
  
"If she's dead, why am I looking right at her?"  
  
"This isn't Chloe, you blew her up. This is her cousin Lucy." Lex was protecting her. He was actually protecting her from the one man she considered prime-evil.  
  
"Lucy what?" Lionel was inspecting her now.  
  
"Lane" She said quickly, "My name is Lucy Lane. I believe you know my sister, Lois." She said, hoping that he would believe her. He looked sceptical.  
  
"And Miss Lane," the way he spat her cousin's - Chloe's cousin's name, made her think that maybe, Lois had done some dirty work against the great Magnificent Bastard. More than once. "What brought you to the LuthorCorp offices in Gotham City? After all you are just a bartender are you not?" He shot her previous words back at her in the form of a question.  
  
"I am a bartender, sir. I was visiting a friend of my deceased cousin's, I believe you call him your son." She shot back, 'Take that Lionel.' she thought triumphantly.  
  
"And how did you know my son was in town Miss Lane?" Lionel shot back.  
  
"Come on sir, I hardly think that you doubt my investigation skills, after all," she said offering Lex a seat on her couch, "did you not enlist the assistance of my cousin Chloe a year before her demise? And have you not had, on more than one occasion had a run in with my older sister? Now if you'll excuse me Mr. Luthor" She spat his name out in disgust, "I have a guest to entertain, and you are hardly invited. Good day." She motioned to the door.  
  
"You have spunk Miss Lane, you certainly do. Take good care of this one Lex. You already let go of her cousin quickly, you wouldn't want to mysteriously lose this one. I wouldn't want to think about how much sorrow that would cause the elder Miss Lane." He shot over his shoulder as he walked out the door.  
  
She closed it behind him with her foot. She would have to wash her carpet again. Disinfect everything he so much as breathed on to really permanently get him out of her apartment.  
  
She collapsed on her couch in exhaustion. She was laying on Lex's lap, but she didn't care right now, she was completely drained. What energy she did have she had wasted. No. Used on Lionel Luthor. A tired smile traced it's way across her face as she fell asleep. 


	9. 9

A/N: According to the movie Supergirl Lucy Lane actually does exist in the Super-verse.. lol... i made up a word ;) kudos to those who caught that... enjoy....   
  
9. Chloe Sullivan or Smile  
  
She hadn't wanted to do this. She really had been putting all of this off. For the past week, at least, she had been hoping that this day would forget that it was supposed to be Wednesday, and think that it was next Thursday. She was sitting in a LuthorCorp high above the countryside, they had taken the scenic route travelling over half of the country instead of flying directly over Smallville.  
  
She didn't want to be here. If she could take it all back she wouldn't have arrived at the LuthorCorp building that day. Wouldn't have come into work that night. But she did. And this was where the fates had decided to take her. And if the fates were not involved, this was where Lex had decided to take her.  
  
She had broken off what ever it was that she had with Bruce. Left her Batphone in his Limo. He had insisted she have one to contact him after she had accused him of being Batman. Over three weeks before Lex had come into her life.  
  
Telling off Lionel had given her freedom, but she found that she couldn't live in Gotham anymore. The people in Gotham City all have a piece of their past following them around. It lurks in the shadows between the elegant Gothic structures.  
  
The skyline cries when the sun goes down because it misses it, and it screams when the sun comes up because it, like most of it's inhabitants, doesn't want the day to start.  
  
Everybody in Gotham City, even Bruce Wayne, has a secret that hides and waits for the right moment to pounce on them.  
  
To eat them whole.  
  
She didn't want to disappear anymore. She wanted to go back to the beautiful green parks of Metropolis. She wanted to see the modern buildings, the Daily Planet's globe in the sky line. Although the sky line was phenomenal in Gotham, it was nothing in comparison to the metropolitan sky line below her right now.  
  
Her life in Gotham City had been a blur, a smudge of animosity in her life. It was her time to grieve for all lost things. Her father, Clark, and her old life. Now she only had to grieve for one more person. The only two people who had sincerely grieved for the death of Chloe Sullivan: Linnea Lennox and Jane Doe.  
  
"Chloe we're home." Lex said softly into her ear. She turned from the window to face him and beamed her trademark 100 watt smile.  
  
"I think we are." She said as she leant her head against his shoulder.  
  
There was time to wait until the shit hit the fan. She only had to wait a few days before the fan would be turned on. The shit had been piling for three months. It was time for her to see her friends again. She didn't want to see Clark in all his self-righteousness. She didn't want to see Miss 'it's-always-going-to-be-about-me-so-deal-with-it!' But she genuinely missed Pete. Where ever he was she missed him a lot. And she did want to see her cousin Lois, mostly to tell her that she told Lionel Luthor off. Lois would be proud. She smiled.  
  
She smiled, and her face didn't break. She studied her face in the nearest mirror the first time she had done it. There were no cracks in the smooth skin she had thought was bone china, or porcelain.  
  
She didn't have to be strong anymore. She wasn't fending for herself anymore. There was a world outside of her that was awaiting her re- appearance and all she had to do was smile. She knew that she would cry when she seen Smallville, her friends, her family. But right now all she had to do was smile. That was all that was expected of her, and that was all she felt like doing as Lex led her out of the helicopter.  
  
She was Chloe Sullivan for crying out-loud. Hear her roar. Okay maybe not roar. But she was Chloe again. The world had taken a break from her, but she was coming back to haunt it. She was a blast from the world's past that they had to relearn to deal with. She hoped that the world could handle her, could handle Chloe. Because she was here to stay now, and the powers be damned if they ever decided to get rid of her again. The only place she felt like holidaying in was hot, sunny, and had crystal clear sandy beaches.  
  
No more hiding in the shadows. No more grief. No more cutting. No more anything. No more.  
  
The easy part was over now. 


	10. 10

10. Lois  
  
Lois Lane was typing away on her computer. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't look at the silver picture frame on her desk and miss Chloe, and Uncle Gabe. Every time she looked at their picture, it was the one from last Christmas that she had taken when they came to visit her in Metropolis for the holidays, she had to choke back tears, or pretend she was going to sneeze to wipe the tears off her face before Kent noticed.  
  
Kent was always around when she missed Chloe. It was like he had a sixth sense or something. But since he had been one of Chloe's high school friends, Lois had to cut him some slack. He had a right to want justice for the death of his confident. This was why she had taken him under her wing after all. He would become her only ally in the fight to keep Lionel Luthor in jail.  
  
She had to fight to keep her cousin's memory alive. That was the reason she became a reporter. Chloe's dream had inadvertently rubbed off on both her and Kent. They both struggled to keep Chloe alive in their memories, and on print.  
  
It was time. Chloe sighed. She had to go see Lois. She had chosen Lois first, because family comes first. If the tables had been turned, she had only hoped that Lois would have chosen her to be the first one she came to.  
  
Chloe nervously ran her fingers through her hair. Her roots were showing a bit, not highly noticeable yet, but she had to stay brunette for the time being so as not to arouse any suspicions in her friends about who was living in the Luthor penthouse suite, other than one of his floozies of course.  
  
It was time for the hard part now, she had to get up the courage to grab some take out coffee, and 'set up an interview' with Lois Lane. Reporter extraordinaire. Chloe smirked, 'Reporter my ass.' She thought cynically. Lois had wanted to be an actress, or an astronaut, not a reporter.  
  
Chloe sighed. Took a big sip of her coffee. Black. No cream. No sugar. Life's not like that anymore. She took a deep breath and dialled the Daily Planet.  
  
"Daily Planet, Kent speaking." Came an unexpected voice. What was Clark doing at the Daily Planet? When did he become good enough to work there?  
  
"Lois Lane." She said, and then added, "Please." She had forgotten to say please. She has definitely been in the penthouse too long, being waited on hand and foot for way too...  
  
"Lane speaking."  
  
"Miss Lane, this is Linnea Lennox calling, I was wondering if I could set up a meeting between the two of us."  
  
"What is the event of which you are calling about?" An event.. Think Chloe think!  
  
"My engagement." Nicely done, now to who you idiot? Of course.  
  
"And what makes you think that this is Daily Planet material Miss Lennox?"  
  
"It's to Lex Luthor." She said.'See, fabricating a story wasn't that hard after all. If Clark was able to do it for the Torch, I can do it for an interview with my cousin.'  
  
Lois sounded very excited when she replied, "Is noon alright? I mean, what time is good for you Miss Lennox?"  
  
Chloe chuckled. Yep, definitely been in the penthouse too long. 'Must channel Lana. Must channel my inner Lana.' "Noon is fine, Miss Lane. But I'm new in town, and do not know where to meet you. If you give me a location, my fiancé's driver will be able to take me to meet you."  
  
There was a pause on the other end. "Meet me at the coffee shop on the street that the LuthorCorp and Daily Planet buildings are located. Do you think you can find that?" The brunette on the other end asked carefully. 'God, she really must think I'm just another one of Lex's brides.' Chloe rolled her eyes, but played along. For this to work, she had to play along until Lois recognized her. Screamed at her. Possibly threw things at her, the usual Lois things.  
  
"I'm sure the driver can find it." She said. 'I'm good. I'm real good.' She thought to herself.  
  
"Alright Miss Lennox I'll see you then." Lois said in a very chipper voice.  
  
"See you then." Lois hung up first. She usually did. She liked the control of ending the conversation. Lois always liked to control everything. When they were little, Lois used to tell Chloe what to do, where to go, and what she was going to eat, when. Lois liked being in control. It was just in her nature. What was to come thought, Lois had no control over. She was going to hate Chloe.  
  
"Kent, you'll never guess what I just got." Lois said triumphantly.  
  
"Pizza. Coffee. Chocolate." He began to list the things that made Lois Lane tick.  
  
"Nope. I bagged an exclusive interview with the soon to be Mrs. Lex Luthor." Kent fell off the rolling chair. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I should go along." He said quickly. 'What's his deal, this is my story.' She thought to herself.  
  
"This is my story, why should you come and steal it?"  
  
"Every woman Lex marries ends up trying to kill him and take his money, what's to say that this girl won't try to kill you?"  
  
"If she does, I'm sure my hero in tights will save me." She looked out the window, 'Where was that hunk when I need him?'  
  
"Alright then." He said defeated. "Go, be merry, have your interview."  
  
"I will." She said grabbing her coat. 'And I'll get a raise too.' She thought with a sinister smile.  
  
When Lois arrived Chloe stood to greet her. "Miss Lane."  
  
"Miss Lennox - Oh my God!" Lois sat down across from her.  
  
'God this is like an old meeting with Lex, minus the sexual tension, and good coffee.' She thought, inwardly rolling her eyes. The coffee in this shop tasted like crap in a cup. Not very good grade cappuccinos if she did say so herself. Lex's maid made better coffee than this.  
  
"Oh your God, what?" Chloe asked carefully. The moment could be spoiled if she recognized her.  
  
"That is a stunning ring Miss Lennox."  
  
"Thank you, and you can call me Chloe." She said quickly. Lois paled at the name.  
  
"No, I shouldn't. You don't understand Miss Lennox -"  
  
"No, Lois, I understand completely." She said softly. She looked into the eyes of her cousin. Lois' brown eyes were searching hers for something. Then they found what they were looking for.  
  
"No..." She said softly. Tears sprung to her beautiful brown eyes. Lois had always been the prettier of the two of them.  
  
"Yes, Lois." Chloe said just as softly.  
  
"There goes my raise." She said looking down to her plate. "But how? I mean, you were dead, I was at your funeral."  
  
"But I wasn't." She said softly. "I was recovering from first to third degree burns in a hospital outside of Kansas." She looked down. "I'm still recovering."  
  
"You look good for somebody who has been dead for three months Chloe."  
  
"I still have scars." She held her palms up for Lois to see. Lois gasped. "But the worse scars are on the inside. Lex is helping me overcome them."  
  
"So you are seeing Lex Luthor then?"  
  
"But I'm not engaged to him." She said taking her hands back from Lois' scrutinizing gaze.  
  
"Your face is untouched. Why?"  
  
Tears jumped to Chloe's throat when she began to explain. "When the explosion-" Her voice choked. "When the explosion hit," she tried again, "I tried to protect my face with my hands." She said looking at her palms carefully. If she looked at them for long enough she could see the explosion. "I shattered glass with my back, and the doctors had to operate to get all of the shards out of my spine. Lois, they told me I shouldn't have survived."  
  
"Maybe that would have been better." Lois said getting up. "Good bye Miss Lennox." Chloe sat there numbly watching her cousin walk away. She was right. It would have been better if she hadn't survived. But that wasn't the case. The only mistake that has occurred was telling Lois who she was. What was Lex thinking? Making her come and tell her friends that she was alive? She got into the waiting car, and the driver drove her home. It was all wrong.  
  
Superman stood on the top of the cafe in shock. Chloe was alive. He wiped a silent tear from his cheek, as he watched the car drive away. But she was sleeping with the enemy. She was on Lex's side. He had to protect her from him. 


	11. 11

A/N:This is for autumngold, b/c she reviews here and at NS :D   
  
11. Stubborn  
  
Lex was in his study when he came in.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me that she was alive?" There was a passion in his voice that Lex found he also possessed when taking about his new... roommate.  
  
"She was waiting to tell you herself. How did you hear?"  
  
"I overheard Lois and her talking. I seen her with my own eyes Lex." Although the man standing in front of him was his nemesis, Lex felt that he could find grief for him somewhere deep, deep, inside.  
  
"Let her tell you herself though... Superman. Its a part of her healing process. It will help her escape her depression."  
  
"She's... She's depressed?" The former farm-boy looked at him sadly. God he was dense.  
  
"Of course she is. She lost everything three months ago. Her life; Gabe, her father. Everything. Life's not roses for her anymore Superman." Lex looked out the window at the sound of a car. "You should be leaving now. She's back."  
  
Superman nodded. "I'll let her heal. She can tell me when she's ready." He said, before he was gone.  
  
'I hate it when he does that.'  
  
"Lex?" She was calling him, and calling him and he wasn't answering. He was home. She wasn't in the mood to go find him.  
  
"I'm here Chloe." He called from the back of the penthouse. She followed were his voice was coming from, and found him reclining on the couch. "How did it go?"  
  
Horrible. Anything but fine. Lois hates me. I want the earth to swallow me whole. I'm a horrible person. The words tried to bubble to the surface, and failed. The only thing that came out was tears. They ran out and she couldn't stop them. Lex sat up and offered her a seat.  
  
When she took it, he wrapped his arms around her and held her. She cried a lot since they came back. Since the explosion. She cried herself to sleep. She woke up crying, Lex was always there to hold her. Lex holding her was the only thing that was keeping her together. He was her glue. She needed him. He kept her in one piece.  
  
"I'm guessing this is a bad day?"  
  
"She hates me."  
  
"That's never stopped you before." He soothed her, and softly ran his fingers through her hair.  
  
A fresh set of tears erupted down her cheeks and onto Lex's silk shirt. 'That was unexpected. I figured that her family would have been more supportive and glad to see her.'  
  
"She'll realize what she's done I'm sure." 'Clark will help set her straight.'  
  
"I hope so, I really missed her." She said softly. Almost too softly. If he wasn't touching her, if he wasn't so close to her, he wouldn't have known she had spoken.  
  
"So Clark's next?"  
  
"No."  
  
Did he miss a memo or something? They were going to go to Smallville before seeing Clark?  
  
"What do you mean no? I thought that was the plan." He didn't want to push her, if he did he could lose her forever. That would be worse than her actually dying in that explosion.  
  
"I mean, 'No' as in 'No I'm not telling anybody else. They'll all react the same way as Lois. I can't go through that again."  
  
"How did she react? I haven't heard the whole story yet Chlo'."  
  
"She... " Her voice cracked. "She told me that...." Her voice trailed away. She didn't want to say the words aloud apparently. He thought sadly.  
  
"What did she tell you honey?"  
  
Chloe took a deep breath. "She told me that it would have been better if I hadn't survived."  
  
There she had said it. The bomb was dropped and there was going to be nuclear radiation effecting everything around her. Around those words. Life sucked.  
  
"Clark is smarter than that Chloe. He won't over react like Lois. He only lost you. Lois lost her uncle as well." He kissed her forehead. "Don't be so stubborn."  
  
"I'm not stubborn." 'How dare he?'  
  
"Are so. Prove to me that you aren't. Go finish explaining things to your friends. Lois will come around."  
  
"Fine." She said crossing her arms under her chest. 'I'm so not stubborn.' "I'm not stubborn though." She declared.  
  
"Alright you aren't stubborn."  
  
"That's right. And don't you forget it Mister. Or you'll be sleeping on the couch. With no pillows." She said.  
  
'I'm not stubborn.' She thought stubbornly. 'Oh God. I am stubborn! I won't admit it to Lex, he'd never let me live it down now.' 


	12. 12

12. Clark or the Fooling of Chloe Sullivan  
  
He was waiting for her in the park. She had told him that she was a freelance photographer who had photos for him to see. He knew that she hated lying before she had died, and wondered how much damage had been done to her to make her lie so constantly.  
  
Lois had been out of the office after her interview with the soon to be Mrs. Lex Luthor. She had told Clark that it had been another crazy, who just wanted her money. Clark knew though. He sucked at lying, and hoped that Lois' keen senses hadn't caught on to his little 'tells'. The awkward farm boy was now gone, but he was still wary of the city life, since his little run in with the Metropolis Police Department during the summer of Kal.  
  
Then he saw her. Her walk was not as confident as he was used to seeing it be. There was a slight slouch of her shoulders.  
  
Lex was right.  
  
She was changed.  
  
Clark watched his old friend suspiciously. Studying her every movement. The way her brown ponytail hung just below her shoulders. There were strands loose, as if she had walked to the park. Her hair had gotten long since he had seen her last. But she was still Chloe. She was still beautiful. Gone were the mixed outfits, of bright colours and tailored suits. She was a more polished girl - woman. They were grown ups now, Clark had to remember.  
  
They had graduated. Well, he had graduated. Alone. All his friends were gone. Now he was slowly trying to bring them back. The news of Chloe and Gabe's death had brought Lana back for the funeral with her new boy-toy Jason. Pete had come back to Kansas for the funeral, and stayed to work on "Rebuilding the Ross empire." Clark had laughed when he had said that, but he was reviving the Ross Cream Corn Company. RCCC was being rebuilt with the help of his uncles and brothers. As well as a hefty loan from the bank. Chloe was the last one to be brought back.  
  
"Clark Kent I presume?" She lied. Chloe knew him, and she easily lied to his face. Clark sighed as he stood to shake the hand of a friend he had thought he had lost. It was time to see if Clark Kent had any true colours other than red, blue and yellow.  
  
It was time for him to face the music and give the best damned performance of his life.  
  
The fooling of Chloe Sullivan.  
  
She watched him rise. She had forgotten how tall he was. He towered before her both physically and mentally. She had to lie to get here. Only the truth could bring her out of the lies barricading her in place.  
  
He shook her hand. 'Clark, you still shake hands like a wuss.' She wanted to say it, but she knew that she couldn't. Not yet anyway.  
  
"You presume right. You said you had some pictures you wanted me to see, Miss - I'm sorry I can't think of your name."  
  
"I didn't say it. Sullivan. Chloe Sullivan." She said. There, the gate was open. There were pigs running out of the pig pen and into the house. She was waking another sleeping dog. There was going to be hell to pay now.  
  
"Chloe." He squeaked. 'Yep. Same old Clark.' She nodded. "Your dead." He said looking at her as if she had just told him the sky was purple, and the grass was red.  
  
"Sometimes I think it would be easier if I was, Clark." She said taking a deep breath. "I didn't die in the explosion." She had said it. He wasn't looking at her in the same disbelieving look that Lois was. But this is Clark Kent. He's different. Special. A mind alien to the world of Chloe Sullivan, no matter how jaded it could get.  
  
"Apparently so." He said still looking at her strangely. Then he did something that she wasn't expecting. He hugged her. This was dangerous territory. Only Lex had hugged her since - since she couldn't remember when. Bruce only wanted her body, he didn't care that she desperately needed somebody to hold her. But she hugged Clark back. She missed him. Tears began raining on his jacket. 'At least it isn't plaid.' She thought absently.  
  
He watched her hug him. It was painful for him to see that. She was his, but this was a part of her healing. She had to heal to be as good as new. But it still hurt him. He hadn't felt hurt like this in a long time. Not since Julian was born and his father treated the baby like a God.  
  
'Your mother fixed that for good hadn't she?' A snide voice said in his head. He recognized it as his father's.  
  
He drove back to the penthouse eagerly awaiting her arrival. Eager to see the smile on her face when she told him the day's events. He wanted to see if her eyes lit up. Today was a good day to be Chloe Sullivan. Lex just hoped that they would all be good days from here on in. He knew that if he began to do anything resembling hoping, his father would do something to screw it all up. He hoped this would be out of his father's range now that Superman was involved. 


	13. 13

A/N: WOW I made it past the crucial Ch 12 mark.., Thats a record for me if you haven't noticed ;)   
  
13. Strawberry Shampoo  
  
"How did it go with Clark?" He had asked her when she had gotten home. She threw her purse and heavy coat on the plush leather chair. The coat had been the first thing she bought in Gotham. It was dark. Warm. It helped her blend in.  
  
"Surprisingly well." Had been her response as she went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. The coat wasn't helping her blend in though. She remembered thinking.  
  
Now they were lying on the couch, watching the news. It was their routine. Every time the 6 o'clock news was on, they would sit and watch it together. It had been Lex's idea. He was trying to bring the old Chloe back as much as possible.  
  
She kept fighting it. The old Chloe didn't want to come back. There was only her. She was all that was left. Lex was going to have to get used to it. But only the fates knew that she was going to have to get used to it as well. Something inside her didn't want her to. There was something hidden deep inside her that demanded that she stay true to her former self, and not let her slip away. At least not yet anyway.  
  
He was holding her. Smelling the strawberry shampoo he had watched her buy with such fervour. She had dragged him to the supermarket. Not a normal place for Luthors to go. Luthors usually went to the bars while the servants went to the supermarket. She had dragged him down the bathroom aisle. Past the toilet paper, and the tooth paste. To the shampoo section.  
  
He told her that she could have the products sent to her if she wanted them that badly. She just scoffed at the idea and went about, smelling each shampoo. Closing her eyes like she was imagining the actual fruit, or plant. She spent an hour doing so. A whole hour smelling shampoo like it was going out of style.  
  
What was he supposed to do? She would have hurt him if he had left her. He would have felt guilty leaving her there because she was smelling shampoo. So he stayed. For the whole hour. Watching her like she was mad. Completely had lost it.  
  
Finally she had decided on buying the strawberry, after making him choose between the strawberry and sour apple.  
  
He had told her that it was audacious to even call a shampoo 'sour apple'.  
  
She countered by telling him that if he didn't smell them both and give her an answer she would make damn well sure that they would be in the store for another half hour. Buying him shampoo.  
  
"I thought it was obvious that I don't use shampoo." He had said softly, into her ear so nobody else would hear. Everybody was paying attention to them now.  
  
She had rolled her eyes at him, and told him that car wax would have to do then. That was when he shut up and bought her the damn shampoo.  
  
Not a bad investment if he did say so himself. He absently thought as he pulled her closer to him.  
  
He was giving her another day to prepare to talk with Pete, and Lana. Lana especially. She would probably push Chloe back into the depression she was slowly emerging from. Lana would pull the "everybody-abandoned-me-and- don't-forget-about-my-dead-parents" routine. Lana wasn't the only person on the face of the earth who has lost her parents, and she needed to get her head out of her ass to see it. If anybody could it would be Chloe. And knowing Chloe she would take pleasure in telling the brunette where to go and how to get there.  
  
Another day to prepare how she was going to deal with crying when she saw Pete. Another day before she had to see where her father, and her had lived before all the crap about Lionel Luthor had started. Another day was all she needed. That was all he was willing to give her.  
  
Anything more than one day, and he was back at square one. Back to where he was with her after she had feverishly cleaned her Gotham City apartment after the confrontation with Lionel. He never smelt so much cleaner in his life. But not a drop of bleach was used. He dared to question her but decided that it would be for the better if he left well enough alone. For now.  
  
But that was a different lesson that Chloe would have to endure. That would be the psychiatrist's job. But he would be there when the secrets would be revealed. He had to be. She would get pulled in again.  
  
And she would go back to Gotham.  
  
Go back to using a hair product that smelled like beauty store.  
  
What would Lex do with the new strawberry shampoo then? 


	14. 14

14. The Talon  
  
Lana was person number four on the list. The last person that Chloe wanted to see. Ever. But they couldn't get a hold of Pete to find him. It was amazing how a person can disappear in such a small town when they didn't want to be found.  
  
The Talon hadn't changed. It still looked like that bad scene from a mummy movie gone wrong. Lana still worked there. Lex had said that she bought him out of their deal after she came back with her rich boyfriend, but Chloe had expected that a rich boyfriend meant a Talon renovation. Chloe inwardly rolled her eyes when she realized that it was Lana Lang she was talking about inside her head, hell, Clark was a rocket scientist compared to Lana.  
  
Lex's hand was on her back, guiding her in. Preventing her from turning around at the sight of the town's self proclaimed Parisian. Lana had gotten a hair cut. She looked all city. It didn't suit her personality at all - if she had a personality that was. A pink scarf was tied around her hair like a head band. In the world of Lana Lang, apparently pink was the new... pink?  
  
"Lex, how nice to see you." She smiled sweetly. Chloe eyed her suspiciously. She was overly friendly to Lex. Not that she was possessive. Ok, well, she was possessive, apparently. "And who is your ... friend?" 'She said friend like I was a whore.' Chloe thought angrily. 'I am not a whore.'  
  
"Actually that was why -" Lex began.  
  
"- Chloe Sullivan. I believe we have met before." She cut him off. She held her hand out as if they had just met. She wished they had.  
  
"Chloe - who?" Lana's eyes got big and teary. 'Wow, I thought she only did that to guys.'  
  
"Sullivan." She repeated. 'Don't make me repeat myself again.' It was hard enough saying it once. She was fighting the urge to smack the tiny pink thing across the room.  
  
Lana practically jumped across the counter to hug her. Chloe started to back up. 'No way. No weird girl hugging for me.' But Lex held her in place as if he knew that she was about to run out the door screaming like a mad - person.  
  
Damn him. She was going to have a talk with him later. She filed the thought away for later as Lana gave her the biggest hug of her life. Seriously. The. Biggest. Hug. In. The. World. Chloe could hardly breathe. Lana was blubbering like an idiot. Saying something along the lines of how she thought Chloe had left her like her dead parents. Or abandoned her like Whitney. She couldn't figure out which it was now.  
  
Lex seemed to be enjoying himself. He was chuckling at all the colours her face was turning she bet. Or he was enjoying the girl on girl action that was directly in front of him. She knew that a lot of the other patrons were.  
  
"Can I get a coffee Lana?" She asked using up the last bit of oxygen in her lungs. Finally Lana let go.  
  
A big sad smile graced the brunette's face. "Yeah. The usual, coconut latte?"  
  
Chloe shook her head. "Just black is fine."  
  
"And one for me." Lex said, his hand lingering on the small of her back.  
  
Lana looked like she had been hit with the stupid stick. "Just black? Are you sure? Nothing to sweeten it?"  
  
"Life isn't sugar coated Lana." She said softly. "I learnt that I like my coffee like life. No sugar added." Chloe gave a small smile, nobody in Gotham drank specialty coffees. They don't serve Lattes in the hospital. She'd learnt to live without them.  
  
"Right." She still looked a little shocked. A light brown haired guy in jeans and a tee shirt came down from the upstairs apartment.  
  
"There's somebody living upstairs again?" Chloe asked looking at her former roommate.  
  
"Just me." Lana said smiling.  
  
The guy came behind the counter and kissed Lana's cheek. "Hey hon." He said into her ear. Barely audible. Chloe heard it.  
  
She had to admit Lana's boyfriend was kind of cute, in a "I-want-to-date- Lana-Lang-and-I-swear-I-won't-try-to-kill-her" way. Lex obviously had seen her check Jared, or Jason, what ever his name was out. His grip around her tightened, and moved to her hip. Lex toyed with her belt loop.  
  
Chloe waited for Jason to leave before repeating Lana's words. "Just you?" Her eyebrow rose involuntarily. It was a habit she had gained from Lex. She couldn't stop it from happening. Just like she couldn't help it if she was falling in love with Lex.  
  
Pete walked into the Talon. It had been a long time since he had visited Lana and Jason. When he seen the Porshe sitting outside, it's licence plate screaming Lex4 he had almost turned around and ran. As much as he hated the Luthors, he hated Lex more. It had been Lex's fault that Chloe was gone forever.  
  
Pete checked out the back view of Lex's new eye candy. He had to say, Lex had good taste in women, and cars. But that was it.  
  
"Luthor." Pete said bitterly as he walked towards the counter. "Can I have my usual Lana." He said politely to the brunette in front of him.  
  
"How's the cream corn business going Pete?" The voice said behind him.  
  
"It's fine Chlo'." Then he swung around to look at where the voice had come from.  
  
No.  
  
No way.  
  
It couldn't be her.  
  
She smiled. It was the smile he had seen in his dreams since her funeral. The smile he had been dying to see again.  
  
It was her.  
  
"Ch... Chloe?" He sputtered.  
  
Chloe. She ran to hug him even though she was right there. She felt good in his arms. He missed her. He hadn't seen her forever. Then it hit him. He had checked her out. She looked good for somebody who had been dead for too long. Too good.  
  
"But how. Luthor, you didn't pull some strange meteor rock mojo to bring her back did you?"  
  
Lex chuckled, but shook his head. No.  
  
"Then how?"  
  
"I've been living in Gotham City."  
  
"The Creep Capital of America. Figures. Of all things kooky. Gotham has more kooks than Smallville and Metropolis put together." He said into her hair. She smelt like strawberries and coffee. God he missed her. She laughed.  
  
Lex watched how Chloe's body language changed when she saw Pete. The weight of the world was lifted off her shoulders now. He had helped her release her demons. She didn't need him anymore. She was free again.  
  
He exited the coffee shop, after leaving a ten for their coffees. He smiled when he got into the car. She was free from her personal evils now. No more nightmares. No more hiding in the shadows for her.  
  
He just had to figure out how to get out of the shadows himself now, and the one person who he thought capable of helping him. Well, he was leaving her to live her life now.  
  
She was free now and that was all that mattered. He had thought selflessly for once. He helped a person and didn't even have an ulterior motive. He put the car in gear, and was about to drive away when there was a soft knock on his window.  
  
"You forgot something." Chloe said softly.  
  
He mentally checked his pockets. Nothing was missing.  
  
"What is that?" He asked as she moved around the car, and into the passenger seat.  
  
"Me." She said closing the door behind her. She gave him her 100 watt smile. The one that brightens up her whole face. The one that makes her look so beautiful.  
  
Oh God.  
  
He was falling in love with her. 


	15. 15

15. Dare  
  
Lionel watched the interaction between his son and this, "Lucy"/Miss Sullivan knock-off. It was clever of them to try and trick him using one of Miss Sullivan's younger cousins as an alias. The operative word was 'try'. He had done his homework, and was intending on giving Lex and his new - paramour - a visit tonight. Just to put the scare of Lionel Luthor back into them.  
  
Pete had made her promise to call him when she got settled in up in Metropolis. They had told him that she was getting a flat of her own in the big city. She hated lying to Pete. She wasn't getting a flat of her own, she was sharing Lex's. If she had been younger - scratch that. If she hadn't been blown to smithereens by one Lionel Luthor, she would have blushed at the thought. She was going to be living with Lex. Staying in his home.  
  
Life was alright. She knew that she still had a lot to do, to finish, before she would be alright. There was a lot head of her that Lex was going to have to help her with. He was her rock. She was still fragile. She needed him. He needed her, he just doesn't know it yet. If he did, he was doing a hell of a job trying to hide it.  
  
She hoped he knew. He could be more stubborn than her sometimes. Sometimes, sometimes she wanted to throttle him. He pushed her too hard. He expected too much from her. But it was the push she needed. She knew that now. He was good for her. She thought looking down at his sleeping form. He had fallen asleep.  
  
The news was on now.  
  
A sinister smile graced her features. She was going to wake him up.  
  
He was having a weird dream. He was standing on the edge of a cliff. Across the ravine was Chloe. She was standing on the edge of the other cliff calling to him.  
  
"Lex."  
  
Then he saw him. His father was coming up behind Chloe. He waved at Lex.  
  
"Hello son. Miss Sullivan." He nodded curtly, before pushing her off the cliff. Lex tried to jump in after her. He had to save her. He was her rock. He was her parachute. He couldn't move.  
  
"Lex."  
  
There were hands on him. holding him back. Trying to prevent him from saving her.  
  
"Lex!" The falling form screamed again. The ground was getting closer to her. "Lex the news is on." She called again.  
  
Huh? That was new. The news?  
  
There was shaking. Was there an earthquake?  
  
No. The ground wasn't moving. Just him.  
  
"Lex. The news is on! Wake up."  
  
He did just that.  
  
"God you sleep like a rock." Chloe said. She was alright. And, he wasn't on a cliff, and... It was just a dream. He breathed a sigh of relief. "The news is on." She repeated for the third time and motioned to the television.  
  
He looked around the room. Grey walls. Stained glass windows. He was in the mansion. Correction. They were in the mansion. More specifically they were in his king sized bed, in the mansion. What was she doing in his bed? There were hundreds of rooms.  
  
Then he remembered. She had had a nightmare. Crawled into his bed. He looked at the clock. 6 pm. Six in the evening?! That clock had to be wrong. She changed it on him didn't she? She was sneaky that way.  
  
"How long was I out for?"  
  
"Uh.." She thought for a moment. "Few hours? You must have been tired."  
  
"I'm hungry." He mumbled leaning over to the phone. If he had looked to see her response, he would have gotten a smirk.  
  
"Yes Mr. Luthor?" The cook... 'God what was her name again? Petra.'  
  
"Yes, Petra, Can I get some food delivered to my quarters please?"  
  
Soon as he was off the phone he was greeted by the smirking face of Chloe Sullivan. "What? I'm hungry." He said with a laugh.  
  
She rolled her eyes at him, and fell back against the mound of pillows. She grabbed the part of his blanket that was tucked underneath him. After giving a few sort tugs, Lex relented and rolled off of it. She smiled at him.  
  
'That smile's going to get me in trouble one of these days.' He thought to himself, as he motioned for her to get closer to him. She complied, and rested her head on his chest. He wrapped his arm around her. She was beautiful. Every inch of her body was perfect. The scars from the accident only marred her exterior. Her interior was going to need work, but she was still perfect. The task ahead of him was to show her that. To show her how beautiful she was. How he saw her.  
  
There was a knock on the door. There was no way all that food could be ready already.  
  
"Mr. Luthor, may I come in?" Sophie, the newest maid, asked.  
  
"Yes." He said, slightly anxious. Normally maids knew that his room was off limits. They only came in to clean.  
  
"Mr. Luthor," she looked shaken up. "You have a visitor."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"He.. He wouldn't say." She lied. He could always tell when they lied to him. They turned away, and refused to look him in the eye.  
  
It was his one and only pet peeve.  
  
"I'll meet who ever it is in the Library." Lex sighed. 'This had better be important. They know better than to disturb me.' Chloe yawned as he moved slightly, hinting that she had to move. "Tired?" His eyebrow rose.  
  
"Hey, some of us didn't sleep all day!" She said moving so he could get up. "If your food gets here before you, I'm eating some." She said as he went into the bathroom with a pair of slacks.  
  
"You wouldn't dare." Came the muffled response. Then Lex came out, pyjama pants in tow, as he did up his belt. His head shot up. "You would dare." He said at the mischievous smile on her face.  
  
"Yes, I would." She said. "Besides, I'm hungry too." She said scrambling to her feet.  
  
"Fine." He mumbled. "Eat it all. I don't care." Studying his movements she cautiously wrapped her arms around his waist.  
  
Her movements had startled him. She could tell that. He wasn't prepared for her to do that, but it was all a part of her scheme. The scheme to protect him. She still didn't know who, or what, she was supposed to protect him from. She still had to figure that out. 


	16. 16

16. Demons  
  
The visitor looked around the library. It was in dire need of a good cleaning. The maids were obviously not doing their job right. He would have to talk to somebody about that. It was otherwise unscathed and untouched since the last time he was here. The expensive sound system was still in the same spot. It just had several layers of dust on it. The young Luthor's presence must have been on a short notice.  
  
The visitor turned around at the sound of footsteps. Lex still wore the same kind of shoes. They made the same noise on the carpeted floor of the library. But there were somebody else's feet padding along side his.  
  
'Curiouser, and curiouser.' He thought to himself as he watched them both enter the room.  
  
Seeing him there scared her. Chloe grabbed onto Lex's arm, her hand trailing down to find his own. She laced her fingers in his. It was a sign of weakness for her, but it comforted her. That was what she needed when she saw the man who was responsible for her fathers death again.  
  
"Dad." Lex said, looking at him.  
  
"Son. Miss Sullivan." He said curtly. She felt Lex's hand grasp hers tightly. He was worried about something. She sensed it. His body language didn't mirror what she sensed. Lionel had done something. Well, other than try to kill them both. He had done something to make Lex uneasy. Something to cause a stir in what it was that Lex was thinking in that sexy head of his. She inwardly smiled, and squeezed his hand back. He didn't have to look down to know that she was here for him if he needed him.  
  
She didn't know why it was that had possessed her to fix her hair, and come to see who it was that had desperately required Lex's attention. She figured that it was Lionel. Nobody had the power to make the maids quiver and shake like that other than Lex himself. And judging by the scare that had been put into the poor girl who came to tell them there was company. It had to be Lionel. Only Lionel Luthor was scary enough to make a young girl shake in fear. She was the only one who hadn't run away in fear from him. She was the only one. And he tried to have her killed.  
  
"So what brings you here father? Not enough innocent babies to eat?"  
  
"Hardly." The Magnificent Bastard scoffed. "I was just stopping by to see how you, and your latest paramour were doing in cow town."  
  
"Smallville." She said glaring at him.  
  
Lex had to admit that she had guts.  
  
She was spitting venom back at him with the utterance of only one word. She was shooting daggers at Lionel with her pretty hazel eyes. When she had grabbed his hand, he began to feel glad that she had decided not to stay in his room with the food. He began wishing that he had turned the maid around and asked her to send the mysterious visitor back to hell where he had come from.  
  
He silently traced his thumb over hers, an act that hadn't gone unnoticed from Lionel.  
  
"What ever. How are you two doing? You seem to be dealing with things well enough." He smirked. Lex shifted his weight from one foot to another.  
  
"Are you just here to belittle us with your special attention? We really had thought we had enough of it. Get out." Lex said sternly. He was dealing with his demons. The only demons left alive to deal with, he thought he was rid of. The rest of his demons were just his past now.  
  
Chloe had dealt with her demons, it was time for Lex to step up to the plate. He had to deal with his demons. No matter how ugly they were. His father was the ugliest demon that he had to deal with, both physically and in his mind.  
  
"I would have never thought you would utter those words to me. I'm offended. Did I interrupt something... personal?" He asked looking between the two of them. "The servant I talked to said you were both in bed. Hadn't been out in hours." Lionel smirked.  
  
"And how much money did you pay her to give you that result?" Chloe asked. Lex looked down at her. He really was in love with her. He looked back at his father. Waiting for his response.  
  
"Miss Sullivan. I thought you had more tact than that." Lionel leaned back against the pool table.  
  
"Leave. Neither of us want you here." She repeated forcefully.  
  
Lionel looked to his son. "Are you just going to let her talk to me like that?" He asked.  
  
Lex looked at the man who had belittled him for as long as he could remember, and simply said one word. "Yes."  
  
The one word. He had said it. He was facing his demons. Now all that was left were the inner demons. Chloe squeezed his hand softly in thanks as they both watched Lionel storm out of the library. The inner demons would take some time. She thought, but at least the worst is over.  
  
Lionel stormed out of his ancestral mansion. The one that he had paid to be moved to this hick town. The one that his son now inhabited with that whore of his. Lionel hopped into his Mercedes Benz and got out of Hickville as fast as he could. But he'd be back. He would be back before theey knew it. He was going to break up they're happy little, what ever it was his son had going on with Miss Sullivan. He was sure of that. 


	17. 17

A/N: The end snuck up on me.. and I apologize... Chapter 18 is the end.  
  
17. The man who has everything  
  
As soon as he was gone, Lex turned to Chloe and kissed her.  
  
"You. Were. Amazing." He said between kisses. Then he realized what he had done. And let go of her.  
  
Turning away from her he spoke. "So, that food must be getting cold."  
  
Chloe looked at her watch, and blushing softly she said. "The news is over." She couldn't believe that he had kissed her. She had secretly hoped that would, but never, in a million years would she have thought that Lionel was the reason behind what Lex had done. Not that she was complaining.  
  
"Chloe I have over 200 channels, I'm sure the news is on on one of them." He said with a laugh, as he offered her his hand.  
  
She smiled. "Right, I forgot." She said taking his proffered hand. "But I should have known. You are the man who has everything." She looked up at him and winked.  
  
"I don't have everything." He said. His eyes were searching her own. A smile tugged at her mouth. What was it about this man that made her want to smile? What was it about him that made her feel safe enough to talk back to the man who killed her father. What was it about Lex Luthor that made her feel?  
  
"Yes you do." She said leading him back to the food. And inevitably his bedroom.  
  
He followed her as she led him to his bedroom. A smirk on his face. She sat him down on his bed. He smiled. She closed the curtains. Turned. Smiled back at him. She fell on his bed with a not so elegant thump.  
  
He laughed softly. "Have a nice fall?" He asked a soft smile on his face.  
  
"Oh yeah." She said grabbing his shoulders from behind him. She was kneeling behind him. He could feel her body softly pressing up against him as she whispered into his ear. "Would you like to have a nice fall?" She asked her voice like velvet against his ear.  
  
"I already have fallen, Chloe." He said plainly, as he turned his head to face her.  
  
Her beautiful eyes were searching his. Searching them for something. He knew that she was searching for the same thing that he was. Searching for the one thing they lost. The one thing that they both craved. He knew that he craved it. The look in her eyes were telling him that it was what she craved as well.  
  
He turned completely around, his knee between her two. Shock was playing on her face. She hadn't expected that move he guessed. Her eyes were still level, unmoving. Dauntless.  
  
Then he kissed her. Eyes open to catch her reaction. A blush. Closed eyes. Eyelashes fluttering. A soft guttural moan. He had found the one thing that he was missing. He was now the man with everything.  
  
'What do you get the man who has everything?' The thought played over in her mind. It was the silent mantra for today. The one thought lingered as he ended the kiss. He looked at her. Eyes open. Hands on her calves. Below her butt.  
  
They had four things in common. One: they both were free from the grasps of Lionel Luthor. Two: They still had a lot to get over. Three: They both wanted each other. Badly. Four: They were too stubborn to admit number three.  
  
Judging by the look on his face, Chloe figured that number three wasn't going to be that big of a problem anymore.  
  
Lex gently pushed her back against the bed. She was now laying beneath him. Hovering over her he kissed her again. His hands getting more adventurous, as her tongue spurred him on.  
  
The news was forgotten. It wouldn't be that much different tomorrow.  
  
The food was forgotten.  
  
Set aside for later. A little voice quipped.  
  
'It would be cold later.' Her mind reasoned.  
  
But try and tell that to Lex Luthor, the little voice replied, the man who now indeed has everything.  
  
She relented and gave herself to the man with everything. The man who stole her heart with one 'Miss Sullivan'. And sealed her fate after finding her in Gotham. She was what he needed to officially have the one thing he was missing. The one thing that she knew he craved. The one thing that she knew she could give him. Love.  
  
She was doomed.  
  
But she was enjoying every minute of it. 


	18. 18

18. found  
  
He snuggled up against her. Burying his face in her hair. Smelling her soft, strawberry scented, golden hair. He could lie like this forever. In his bed - their bed a small voice corrected.  
  
She was sleeping. Curled up against him. In his arms. Silk sheets wrapped around her beautiful body, and his.  
  
He softly traced the scars on her shoulder blade. He didn't meant to wake her up. Just like he wasn't purposely trying to drive himself batty. He just liked the feel of her skin under his hands.  
  
To him, the scars were a tattoo. A tribal tattoo, showing the world what she had been through. A sign proving that you could stand up to Lionel Luthor more than three times, and come out alive. Come out safe.  
  
She was awake before he had began to trace her scars. They were a map of the country she had been in exile. She never wanted to visit that country again. It had kept her prisoner for too long.  
  
Lex had helped her find Chloe Sullivan again. If she ever went back to the depression. The way things were before. She was afraid. Afraid of what might happen to her. Afraid she might not come back again. Afraid she would turn out more flawed than she was now.  
  
She had fought fire. And won. Sort of. She had faced the devil himself. Faced the blazing fires of hell. Watched on in horror as her father died in the same blazing hell fires.  
  
She had lived off of an IV for a month. Struggled to keep down food when they took her off of it. She tried not to cry as she went through physical therapy. To get her hands working again.  
  
Her hands. They were scarred, and frighteningly real. They reminded her about what she had been through. What Lex had pulled her out of.  
  
She had lived under an assumed name to get away from it all. If not for a life time, then for a little while at least. Lex pulled her out.  
  
If life in Gotham had taught her anything at all, it was that she was strong willed. A piece of Gotham was in her blood now.  
  
She sighed contentedly as he kissed her shoulder. Softly. She smiled. He was trying not to wake her up.  
  
"Did I wake you?" He asked softly into her ear.  
  
She murmured, "No." A small response. If she wanted to she could have elaborated. But she was content to feel him softly worshipping the very skin that she once wished that she could shed.  
  
He made her comfortable in her own skin again. He made her wish that she could see the sun rise tomorrow. He made her want to live. He was her reason. Her life-blood. The one thing that kept her tied to this world.  
  
Lex had done the impossible. He had found Chloe Sullivan, and brought her out of the darkness and animosity that is Gotham City. And into the light.  
  
As the only way for her to thank him, she had done the same for him. She had shown him that there were real genuine people in the world.  
  
She missed her father. Lex had helped her realize that she could live without Gabriel Sullivan. That she could live with a different rock. She had found her reason to live on. And he was willing to do anything he could to make sure that Chloe Sullivan would not need to be found again.   
  
End 


End file.
